intention upon it, and utter out in order every letter of it?
And if any shall begin to gainsay thee, and quarrel with thee
about it; wilt thou quarrel with him again, or rather go on meekly
as thou hast begun, until thou hast numbered out every letter?
Here then likewise remember, that every duty that belongs unto
a man doth consist of some certain letters or numbers as it were,
to which without any noise or tumult keeping thyself thou must
orderly proceed to thy proposed end, forbearing to quarrel
with him that would quarrel and fall out with thee.

XXV. Is it not a cruel thing to forbid men to affect those things,
which they conceive to agree best with their own natures,
and to tend most to their own proper good and behoof?
But thou after a sort deniest them this liberty, as often as thou
art angry with them for their sins. For surely they are led
unto those sins whatsoever they be, as to their proper good
and commodity. But it is not so (thou wilt object perchance).
Thou therefore teach them better, and make it appear unto them:
but be not thou angry with them. XXVI. Death is a cessation
from the impression of the senses, the tyranny of the passions,
the errors of the mind, and the servitude of the body.

XXVII. If in this kind of life thy body be able to hold out,
it is a shame that thy soul should faint first, and give over.
take heed, lest of a philosopher thou become a mere Caesar
in time, and receive a new tincture from the court. For it
may happen if thou dost not take heed. Keep thyself therefore,
truly simple, good, sincere, grave, free from all ostentation,
a lover of that which is just, religious, kind, tender-. hearted,
strong and vigorous to undergo anything that becomes thee.